Winter on a Farm

2/14/2016

Though we haven't had nearly as bad a winter as usual, when it gets cold and the snow comes, having livestock of any kind becomes a labor of love.

Follow me outside and see what I mean...

If you didn't already know, animals actually need more water in the winter time than in the summer, or at least that is how it seems. We have to make 2-3 water runs a day to ensure the animals have fresh, unfrozen water and to check on them. What that means is hammering out the frozen buckets and refilling them with fresh water, only to repeat the process in a few hours. We have tried warming buckets and plates but they never seem to last very well, the only one that worked well was the horse trough that has a heating element in the bottom, that works great. The last time we used a heated waterer for the chickens it shorted out within a few months.

However, for now it is water buckets for the hunting dogs, and we can't keep a warmer in those because the dogs chew them to bits!

Busting out the ice with a rubber mallet is how we do it here. Then refill the buckets, only to have to go back outside and do it all again after lunch.

I always have my orange barn cat buddy when we are out doing this work, he likes to perch high up somewhere and watch. First the burn pile...

Back up to the barn for more feed and I see him on the tractor this time.

After the chores are done I follow hubby for a bit, he trains hunting dogs and is at it again, regardless of the temperatures outside. I stand amazed at his patience and desire to see the bird dogs do what he has trained them to do. He plants birds and then takes the dogs out into the field where they smell the bird and stop at a dead standstill pointing the bird for the hunter to come.

Once the upland game bird has been pointed the hunter shuffles his feet in the brush to kick up the hiding bird, it is at that moment he has to be ready to shoot, the dog is then ready to retrieve the bird and my hunter will prepare a tasty dinner.